The UED Returns
by natmanhan
Summary: Raynor gets an unexpected visit from a representative of his old enemies, the United Earth Directorate.
1. Chapter 1

Jim Raynor lay back in his chair in the Hyperion cantina. His chair and the rest of Cantina were made of steel. The ship was a military vessel, designed for durability, not comfort. He was smoking a cigar and thinking of all that had transpired over the years since the Zerg invasion. It was all so ironic. He battled with creatures from hell every day. Yet it was these moments of peace and calm that killed him.

Because in these moments of peace, the thoughts came back that made him feel like death. He lurched forward in his seat.

"I should never have left her behind," he shouted. "Damn Mengsk for ordering us to abandon her!"

Even though Kerrigan had recovered a lot of her humanity since the artifact was used on her, he always feared her slipping back into being the type of Queen of Blades the Overmind made her into.

He banged his hand on the table, squeezing ash out of his cigar in the process and startling the people standing around in the ship's cantina.

Mengsk. Arcterus Mengsk. To his followers: noble leader, precious deliverer.

To Raynor: Power hungry, lying scumbag.

Of course, a lot of people knew the truth after Raynor's broadcast. Tycus Findlay may have sold his soul to the devil, but that day he sure did do some good work with the Odin.

Raynor's brooding was interrupted by wailing alarm and flashing red lights. "Red alert! Zerg flyers inbound," Matt Horner's voice yelled over the PA.

Raynor's heart beat raced. He twisted up out of his chair so fast that he knocked over his whiskey glass with his hand. He didn't even notice.

He ran to the bridge. He was sprinting down the narrow hall like a track star but no speed could seem fast enough to him.

Eventually he went through the opening. His first officer, Matt Horner, weapons officer Jessica Hall and sensor technician Marcus Cade were all at their stations. He started talking without taking time to catch his breath.

"Status report," he yelled.

"We've got thirty-six mutas incoming," Horner reported with a steady voice. Raynor was always impressed at his ability to remain calm in dire situations. He felt their different personalities as commanders created an excellent balance.

Raynor knew that the flying horrors coming at them were not to be trifled with. Mutalisks, as the C-shaped, bat-winged monsters were called, could shoot out explosive symbiotes called "glaive worms" that can bounce across multiple targets exploding part of their bodies chemically with each hit. Against so many of the large beasts an ordinary battle cruiser would have been outgunned.

However, the Hyperion, being the former flagship of Mengsk, and before him, the Confederacy, was no pushover even against such a deadly threat.

"Weapons free! Hit 'em hard," Matt yelled.

Six of mutalisks were hit by heavy machine gun fire from the ship's side batteries. The laser batteries on the front toasted three more. The rest dived for the ships underbelly. Five more were burned by the lasers as a result, but the rest released their deadly symbiotes. The symbiotes exploded on the ship's hull, creating cracks.

However, the Hyperion had been outfitted with lots of Neosteel plating so nothing critical was hit. The impact shook the crew though, creating some anxiety even though they had dealt with this type of situation dozens of times.

"Damage report," Horner yelled. Raynor felt content to let him take charge at this point. While he considered it his obligation to know what was going on and be around to take command if Matt went down, he had every confidence in the young officer. Horner had proven himself to be more than capable of running in the ship.

In fact, he seemed as good as or better at it than Raynor himself. Jim figured this was due to Matt having been a pilot beforehand. Raynor had always been more comfortable on his vulture bike or on foot.

"Some of the plate's been busted by them buggers, but we're holding together just fine," Marcus Cade reported.

"Maintain fire," Horner ordered.

"Aye aye sir," Jessica Hall, replied.

More mutalisks got cut down by the machine guns and lasers of the ship. Suddenly, Cade exclaimed, "Sir, more incoming!"

"Zerg," Horner asked.

"Terran," Cade reported.

"What the devil," Raynor asked.

Explosions from a salvo of missiles ripped apart the remaining mutalisks.

"They're hailing us sir," Bralik says.

"Patch them through," Raynor commanded.

An aged, Slavic man's face appeared on the screen.

"Greetings," the man said. "I am Admiral Petrov of the United Earth Directorate.


	2. Chapter 2

"Thanks for saving our butt back there. But what the hell are you doing here," Raynor asked.

"What does it look like we're doing," admiral Petrov said.

"Blasting mutas with those old valk H.A.L.O. rockets. Guess those old hunks of junk are still good for something, like my good 'ole vulture bike."

"That they are. We thought they would especially be effective with the Zerg reducing their scourge counts."

"So, you just hear to blast the Zerg, or are we targets to?"

"That is up to you. We've come to stop the hybrid. We want your cooperation. We've realized we cannot stop the threats to humanity while simultaneously waging war with other humans."

"Well, hope you don't mind if we stick it to the Dominion."

"Your war does not matter to us." His face remained expressionless.

Raynor figured the son of a bitch was suppressing a smile right now. Probably planning to pull something later, and knew that the Raiders and Dominion fighting each other would be to his advantage once the aliens were defeated. Still, he needed a way to stop the hybrid. There would be no mankind left to liberate if he didn't. He decided it was time to make a deal with the devil.

"Alright, I'll work with you. But don't pull any funny stuff." Like any guarantee from the UED was worth the paper it was printed on.

"I'm always serious," Petrov said.

That's just what Raynor feared. The UED was always serious about universal domination. The twisted organization's predecessor, the United Powers League, had rounded up mutants, criminals, genetically altered individuals, and the cybernetically enhanced. Most were killed in a massive genocide. A high-ranking scientist had secretly sent some of the prisoners to colonize Gantris VI. However, the project went awry, and the prisoners ended up in the Kropulu sector, where they set up the civilizations of the Terrans.

Jim doubted that their motives were merely to protect Earth. The UPL had tried to wipe out humans who were different. What must they think of the Protoss, Raynor's friends? Or the Zerg, a race his lover had been assimilated by?

But, the hybrid was attempting to wipe out all three. "Guess I've made a deal with the lesser of two evils," Raynor thought to himself. He'd made another compromise. Just like with Valerian Mengsk.

"So, what's the plan," Raynor asked. "Got any super high tech device for dealing with the Zerg leader, like before?

"Well, you already have a better one in your possession, courtesy of your Protoss friends' 'gods.' But we did bring some new devices to play around with."

"So, care to show me your new play things," Raynor asked.

"In due time. As soon as we run into any opposition, you'll see how fun they can be," the Petrov said. "For now, we have to make sure there will be no Dominion interference in our operations. We will speak again, Commander Raynor."

Petrov picked up his pipe. "Ensign, set a course for Korhal."

"Roger."

"Engage."

The ship rapidly accelerated, things got blurry and then everything disappeared in a flash of light. When they reached their destination, things were clear again.

It was a great feeling to go into warp speed. Everything seemed immaterial. You felt like a god, an angel, or a super hero. Members of the UED were not supposed to revere any of those things. Pure humanity was supposed to be divine. To be normal. But government propaganda could not crush the dreams or fantasies of the Petrov. And, while at warp speed, he could imagine being someone else. Someone without this bullshit assignment.

But the reality was, he had a bullshit assignment to do. Even if he thought it was nuts. Dugalle, Stukov, and the leaders of the UED had thought their plan of attack was so brilliant that it could not fail. They may have been great strategists otherwise, but they ignored a key factor: their enemies could think as well.

Petrov knew better. He hoped being wiser would help him survive. Nothing was guaranteed in life though.

"Sir, we have Dominion ships on approach."

Five ships showed up on the view screen.

"Unidentified vessels, this is Admiral Kildea of the Dominion fleet. Surrender in the name of the emperor and prepare to be boarded."

"I wouldn't try if I was you."

Suddenly, sixty wraiths appeared out of nowhere.

Kildea looked dumbfounded.

Petrov smiled. "I think we can both agree this situation would best be resolved diplomatically."

Kildea nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

"Who are you," Kildea asked.

"We are the UED. We visited your sector not too long ago. A rather unpleasant affair it turned out to be," Petrov said.

"I heard about you. You're the arrogant buffoons who thought trying to control the Zerg was a good idea."

"Apparently so did your former leader and his son. Our plan would have worked if the Protoss hadn't interfered."

"So, what are you doing here?"

"You really expect these boys to tell you that straight up? They aren't in that business," Raynor quipped. "I mean, you'd think that you guys would expect it, with all that making stuff up you do."

"Shut your mouth you filthy rebel," Kildea said.

"Please, boys, boys, we're all armed to the teeth here. It would behoove us to be civil. Especially since I'm the one saying this and I'm the best equipped," Petrov said.

Kildea realized he had a point. Now was not the time to start a war. Especially since the UED beat the Dominion badly before. The Dominion may have gotten stronger and more organized, but it still had not idea of the full extent of the UED's capabilities. And the Dominion armed forces had suffered a lot of losses recently with Kerrigan's and Raynor's siege on the capital.

Although Raynor and Kerrigan, in their siege on the capital city of Korhal, had killed Arcterus Mengsk, the Dominion was still a problem for Raynor's Raiders. After Arcterus learned that his son had been working with Raynor, he appointed a regent to run the empire in case of his death. This regent would rule until Valerian "came to his senses."

Raynor wanted to finish off the Dominion, but with Kerrigan's forces going off to fight the hybrid and his own still recovering from the attack on the capital, he couldn't do much just yet. He planned on biding his time, waiting for the UED to overextend itself fighting with everyone again and meanwhile demolish the Dominion's capabilities, then finally wrest control from that corrupt empire.

Raynor and Kerrigan were allied now, but the regent came up with a tactic of using psi disruptors to cause small groups of zerg to go out of Kerrigan's control attack Raynor, as the Dominion had done with the mutalisks. Kerrigan didn't have time to counter this, as she was busy pursuing the hybrid herself. Raynor had found and destroyed some of them, but the Dominion was always manufacturing more.

Raynor, Petrov, and Kildea agreed to a meeting in a neutral location, Moria, the capital of the Kel-Morian Combine. Raynor had wondered if the Dominion would be willing to meet there, since they had fought the Combine in the past. However, he was glad that, as they sometimes did, the two were willing to get along for now.

The meeting took place in a simple office room. There were cheap mesh armchairs, a laminated wooden table, and plain white drywall. Raynor thought it was funny how the place looked just like he was in an office on a planet where humans would settle down to live, even though they were on a red planet. Even though it wasn't his first time in such as setting, it still amused him.

"So, Admiral Petrov," Raynor opened the meeting with a smile on his face, "I'm assuming you and your boys didn't come hundreds of light years without a plan to kill the hybrid, or enslave it and use it to kill us. How are you planning on taking down that critter?"

"We've developed a special tracker that can locate the source of the hybrid's energy, based on Protoss technology we've 'borrowed.' If we take it out, the hybrid will not be able to revive after we've destroyed it with our weaponry," Petrov said.

"Sounds good, but I think Raynor will end up wanting to spare it at the last moment," Kildea said with a smile.

"Lucky for us, he didn't have a prior relationship with the Xel'Naga," Petrov said. He maintained the grimace that characterized UED officers, but in his tone of voice he sounded amused.

"The only reason I kept Kerrigan alive was so that she could kill this thing for us," Raynor said. He knew in his heart that that wasn't true, but at least it was partially true.

"Alright, I'll allow you guys into Dominion space to do this if the regent approves," Kildea said. Raynor and Petrov nodded. Kildea walked away, back towards the shuttle bay to return to his ship.


End file.
